_ Reuters photos
From left, Ureybi and Hussein.

BAGHDAD (Reuters):

Gunmen killed a brother-in-law of the new judge trying Saddam Hussein and badly wounded the man's wife and son, in what the Iraqi government said yesterday was a direct attack on the court by Saddam's followers.

The government spokesman said judge Mohammed al-Ureybi's 10 -year-old nephew and his sister were in a critical condition after the family was sprayed with bullets on Thursday evening.

It was at least the fourth killing closely connected to the U.S.-sponsored court, following those of three defence lawyers, and will raise new questions about its ability to conduct fair trials in a nation on the verge of sectarian civil war.

"This was purposely and intentionally from groups which are connected to Saddam," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters, adding that he expected Ureybi nonetheless to continue presiding over the genocide trial which he took over last week.

Police said the family were driving off from their home along with a truck laden with possessions when they were ambushed. They had decided to flee the mostly Sunni Ghazaliya district of west Baghdad after Ureybi, a Shi'ite lawyer, was appointed following the government's sacking of his predecessor.

Television coverage

Day-long television coverage of the trial, in which Ureybi has ordered Saddam from court at each of the three sessions he has chaired so far, has made the judge a national celebrity. Court officials were not immediately available for comment.

Iraqi lawyers said the attack on his relatives would be grounds for the tribunal to question Ureybi's ability to be impartial and ask him to step down.

But a source close to the court said he expected officials to confirm Ureybi in his post.

He was appointed after the government sacked his predecessor for telling Saddam the former president was "not a dictator".

In all, he is the fourth chief judge to try Saddam, since the first judge in an earlier trial quit nine months ago over what he called interference from the Shi'ite-led government.